'We expect him to' - Journalist claims Bielsa to start Leeds 25-year-old vs Liverpool

Leeds United reporter Joe Donnohue has claimed that he expects to see Raphinha start for them tonight.

Despite being an incredibly important player to the team, being their top scorer this season, leading them in a number of categories such as shots, key passes and dribbles per game (via WhoScored), and being a starter for the vast majority of their league games, the Brazilian has been in and out of the side recently.

He was dragged off at halftime in their game against Everton, a decision that led boss Marcelo Bielsa to come out and explain his reasoning as to why, then started on the bench against Manchester United, coming on at half-time and managing to grab an equaliser before the side eventually went on to lose the game 4-2.

However, speaking on the Liverpool based Blood Red podcast ahead of the game tonight, Donnohue claimed that things would return to normal for the 25-year-old at Anfield and that he would be back in the starting eleven, and claimed that he might have a point to prove following his recent toing and froing when it comes to the team:

(6:16) “I mean, the last time Leeds turned up to Anfield, Raphinha wasn’t a Leeds player. So hopefully we’ll get him from the start, he was dropped to the bench for the first half anyway, against Man United at the weekend, we expect him to come back straight into the eleven.

(8:24) “I think if you want him to prove a point, then there’s probably no better stage than Anfield to do it because of him being left out of the starting eleven at the weekend, coming on scoring within eight or nine minutes of him being on the pitch.”

TIF Thoughts on Joe Donnohue’s comments about Raphinha and Leeds United

As if it wasn’t obvious already with what he’s done already this campaign,